Replacing Hood Pin & Safety Catch

Background

I wanted the hood itself to have a little more ‘presence’ and I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Then it struck me, the safety catch was painted as the hood colour. Not that there is any thing wrong with that as it normal on the cars. I just wanted something a little different now.

What’s in the box

Process

To Remove:

I will assume that you wish to remove both the pin and the catch for this guide. The safety catch is held in by two bolts with a grip washer, one at each end of the bar.

Use a 1/2″ socket to loosen both bolts before removing fully. Depending on how long they have been in place it may be worth soaking in a penetrating oil like Gibbs to make it easier. Hold the catch with one hand and undo the bolts being careful not to drag it down the paint under the hood.

There was so much paint on the bolts the socket had trouble fitting, not that that is anything to complain about of course. You can see by the fingers undoing the bolt just how much paint was chipped off.

With the catch out the way it makes life a lot easier to remove the hood pin with a 3/4″ spanner. Again you may want to use penetrating oil to ease the loosening.

You will notice that the paint stops on the hood where the catch was sprayed bolted into place.

Loosen the bolt to make it easier to undo the pin. At the so you can remove it by hand and not drop it. Simple as that.

Before fitting I polished the stainless steel pin, bolt and washer, the safety catch bar, and the two Ford stamped bolts. Just to make sure it was as shiny as it could be.

before clean

after cleaning

ready for fitting

To install:

The hood Pin;

Just a reverse procedure of the removal. The end of the pin has a slot in it so you can use a large flat head screw driver to loosen it out the hood. You can see the slot here.

Leave the bolt undisturbed on the thread as much as possible for the moment on the old pin. Remove the nut and washer from the new pin and wind the bolt back onto the thread. Line up the old and the new pins side by side and wind the bolt to roughly the same place as the old one. This will give you a starting reference point of where the pin should be. Make sure that the pins are the same length, they should be. If the new one is longer be very careful that the pin thread does not hit the top skin of the hood when tightening it up, otherwise it will ripple and dent the hood body work.

An optional step here is to clean the old grease and grunge from the hood catch assembly allowing it to a full free movement to open and close fully. Re-grease the catch ready for the new pin. Well recommended by the way.

Place the washer on top of the nut on the new pin as this needs to be between the hood and the nut to give strength and stability. Now wind the pin into place until it touches the previously set nut, lightly tighten the nut for now. Close the hood to make sure the pin goes all the way into the hood catch assembly.

If you can lift the hood without releasing the assembly then undo the nut, unwind the pin a little and lightly tighten up the nut again. Close the hood and repeat if you need to until the pin is fully engaged and held in place by the hood assembly.

If the pin goes all the way in the catch assembly, but there is play when lifting the hood before the pin catches the assembly stop, you will need to open the hood as normal and wind the pin in a little to close that play in the gap. Close the hood and repeat if you need too.

There should be virtually no play from the hood once the pin is engaged. Once you are happy with the setting, lift the hood and tighten the bolt fully making sure the pin does not twist in. Recheck the closure. Remember if there is too much play in the gap the hood could vibrate and try to lift when going along at speed. You need to take your time and get this right.

The Safety Catch;

Again check the old and the new next to each other and make sure they are the same for the holes to bolt into. They should be.

There is no adjusting for the safety bar, it just bolts into place and that’s it. You can reuse your old bolts, colour code them or get some nice new shiny ones the choice is yours. I obviously went for the ‘Ford’ stamped bolts to be that bit different again.

Finger tighten in the bolts at each end just to make sure the safety catch is in place and will not fall down. Tighten back up with the 1/2″ socket.

Check the hood closure now there should be a more substantial clunk as the hood shuts now. Make sure the hood is again fully engaged and will not lift up or move.

Results:

Brilliant. The pin and safety catch matches the hood lip trim and just gives a little bling to an otherwise fully painted hood.

Functionality there is no difference, nobody will see it from the outside, it will only be seen when the hood is up. The cost in the UK is around £50 or equivalent in the USA dollars. It took around an hour or so to fit both parts and is very simple project.

I think it’s worth it. Another little something else to clean as well now. 🙂